Housing market weakness long-term: survey - Yahoo! News

Housing market weakness long-term: survey - Yahoo! News

Consumers expect housing market weakness to linger for longer than they did a few months ago, a survey showed on Friday.

The Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers Home Prices Report for June also cited a broad gulf between buyers and sellers in the housing market.

Economists broadly agree that U.S. house prices peaked sometime in 2006. According to some measures, they have fallen about 16 percent since then.

"Consumers now anticipate that the weakness in home prices will last much longer than they had anticipated a few months ago," wrote Richard Curtin, director of the survey.

"Record numbers of consumers now think there are very attractive prices on homes for sale," Curtin said. "The problem has been that record numbers of consumers have objected to selling their home at such deeply discounted prices."

Asked about prospects for home prices during the year ahead, 23 percent of homeowners reported that they anticipated declines, down from 27 percent in the May survey. In June, 19 percent said they expected home prices to rise in the next year, unchanged from May's reading.

Asked about the direction of house prices over the next five years, 13 percent of respondents said they expect prices to fall, while 55 percent said they expect prices to rise. That was down from a 2007 peak of 70 percent who said they expected house prices to rise.